


sunset

by yoshizora



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, retaliation against the stupid drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 11:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8246945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoshizora/pseuds/yoshizora
Summary: Dia finally speaks her mind.





	

Mari approaches on a magnificent horse with the setting sun behind her, picturesque like a Renaissance painting or something out of a fairy tale.

Dia makes a face like she’d swallowed a lemon.

“ _Oh_ , Starbright~! That’s Dia!” Mari brings the horse to a halt, stirring up wet sand. The evening is cooling down but it was unbearably hot earlier; Dia has to wonder if Mari feels comfortable like that in her riding clothes, so prim and refined and disjointed against her lazily cheerful disposition. The beach stretches down in both directions along the road, quiet, and a flock of seagulls lands nearby to pick at scraps left by tourists. Starbright glowers at Dia like a threat.  

“Out for a walk as well, I see,” Dia regards the horse with a slight grimace. Starbright still seems unimpressed and huffs at her through its nose.

“Wanna join us? You can sit in front! Oooor, on the other hand, it’d be nice to have Dia sit behind me with her arms around my waist…”

 _Don’t be ridiculous_ — the words catch on the tip of Dia’s tongue when Mari extends a hand. Dia looks down at her clean white sundress and sandals, and up at the saddle where there’d be barely any room for two people to sit, and frowns hard. She manages to push the caught words all the way out. “I refuse.”

“Ooh, come on! Have some _fun_ and just get up here!”

Something about the way Mari’s eyes twinkle makes Dia falter, and she remembers the first time she tried horseback riding on Mari’s estate with Kanan when they were children. She had been so nervous around the horses that seemed as tall as buildings in her childish perspective, and would only ride one if Kanan or Mari sat with her. Mari makes a slightly impatient gesture with the tips of her fingers.

—

“You never said what was on _your_ mind, Dia,” Mari says over the hushing ebb and flow of the waves. “Back then, when we were first years.”

She left Starbright on her own when they stopped at a bench that looks out over the sea. Dia had spent a good ten minutes arguing and trying to convince Mari to at least tie the horse somewhere, but Mari is convinced that her horse is exceptionally clever and won’t wander off back towards the main road. 

Mari’s intuition rarely fails for little things like that. A small, small seed of resentment settles inside Dia’s chest. Dia, who had grew up being taught to exude grace and control and the tautness of a steel cable, sometimes envies Mari who is all colorful yarn in tangles that’s just as strong and refined as alloys. Maybe stronger, even.

But not everything is about wealth and success, they’d all learned.

“Was there any need to?” Dia carefully treads, already wary of where the conversation is steered towards.

“Of course there was!” Mari roughly nudges her with her elbow. “I talked about it more with Kanan last night, and I got it. Two years late, but I _got_ it. Remember the week before I left, when we were arguing? Ohh, Dia, you barely said a word, but I was so busy yelling at Kanan that I forgot to notice.”

“I don’t see why you’re bringing that up now, of all times. What has passed has passed.”

“Better late than never!” Her smile wavers and her fingers flutter over her lap, close to Dia’s side. “… I’m sorry.”

Dia keeps her hands folded together. The sea’s horizon is ablaze by the sunset, so bright and _shiny_ that she has to squint and look away. “There’s no need for apologies at this point. We’ve been given a second chance at being school idols with Chika-san and the others, have we not?”

But that’s not the point.

“Dia, what did _you_ really want?”

Those fluttering fingers find their way to Dia’s hands, gently trying to pry their way in. Dia can feel the cracks in her composure spreading like a spider’s web.

“… I wanted you to stay, of course. I wanted to continue being school idols together. I was the selfish one.”

“But you wanted to respect Kanan’s feelings.”

There might have been a split second of hesitation. “Yes, that’s right.”

She softly sighs. “Oh, _Dia_.”

Then the cracks seal themselves off and Dia keeps her lips pressed shut, but it doesn’t matter because words have done their part already. Mari ducks in to press her forehead against Dia’s, her breath sweet against her mouth. She isn’t even startled. She catches Mari’s hand between her own and clasps it tightly, two years of regret and resentment pushed to the bottom of her sea again.

“I wanted you to stay…” she whispers, allowing Mari to pull her closer.

The sunset reaches its completion and the water is no longer sparkling.


End file.
